Under a free enterprise system businesses should be as free as possible from government regulation and interferences. But when relationships between businesses become lopsided because one side abuses its advantages of size and might over the other, it is time for government to step in and level the playing field.

Such is the case with SB 126, amendments to the state's decades-old Dealer Bill of Rights, which passed the N.H. Senate recently by a seldom heard of margin of 21-2 and now heads to the House.

SB 126 has been the topic of two Foster's Daily Democrat editorial board meetings — one last week with the representatives of the Alliance of Automobile Manufacturers and one this week with members of the New Hampshire Auto Dealers Association. The first is said to represent about 77 percent of automakers nationally and the latter the New Hampshire retail motor vehicle industry, (auto sales dealers, tractors, off-road vehicles etc.) many of them small businesses and family owned.

During the meeting with NHADA members we heard story after story of local dealers — your friends and neighbors, the ones who support local youth programs and booster clubs — being forced out of business or being strong armed to spend hundreds of thousands, if not at times millions, of needless dollars to build or rebuild showrooms every few years.

In one case a local dealer was ordered to redo his facility after only three years. Another is operating under orders to do so after only nine years. In both cases we would defy any of our readers to find a thing wrong or unpleasant about either facility.

Also at issue is the life-and-death grip manufacturers have on dealers. One dealer who sat with us on Tuesday, unbeknownst to him through formal channels, had been targeted for elimination. Yet when he tried to find out why after the closure order came, it literally took an act of Congress to force arbitration and be granted access to the equivalent of his company's personnel files held by General Motors.

In spite of these and other horror stories, Daniel Gage, spokesman for the Alliance of Automobile Manufacturers, says SB 126 will cost consumers more to buy cars. Suffice it to say after looking at the facts, Gage's claims earn The Washington Post's “Four Pinocchios.”

Even if SB 126 does increase manufacturers costs in New Hampshire, dealers here would be committing business suicide to increase costs since Maine, Massachusetts or Vermont are only short drives for most Granite Staters. But the real lie in the Alliance's claim comes from looking at the numbers. And not just construction.

One Seacoast dealer is required to “rent” his sign from the manufacturer. So instead of buying the sign from a local sign maker, this dealer pays $7,200 a year in rent ad infinitum while also insuring and maintaining the sign. At another dealership, visitors will probably not notice the Italian marble the owner was required to buy instead of getting a better marble at significantly less cost at a Seacoast dealer. Of that quarried granite slab imported and required to decorate another dealer's showroom, it could have been purchased from a Greenland business for $1,400 instead of the mandated $7,000. And did you know that some manufacturers regularly inspect dealerships to make sure even the furniture is factory approved and is required to be purchased from a single-point provider with no connection to the local business community (which we have little doubt kicks back a portion of sales to the manufacturers)?

But there is more to SB 126 than giving local dealers a fair shot at doing business the way they feel they should to serve the local market while keeping costs down. SB 126 is a shop-local bill. A dollar spent locally to buy a sign can have a tenfold impact on the local economy — moving on to pay salaries then to buy groceries and more — locally.

In the end SB 126 is a good investment for all Granite Staters and worth overwhelming support in the N.H. House.